I don’t know about you but I find winter a season to be endured rather than enjoyed and over the years I have amassed some survival strategies for getting me through to the other side. Take a look below to find out more…

Keeping in Fine Winter Fettle

The four things that reliably keep us physically healthy are eating well, drinking well, moving well and resting well. This is no different in winter to any other time of year, however all of these areas seem to suffer somewhat in the darker, damper days. Read more

This year I decided that I needed to get my act together so I set out on January 1st with a series of self care objectives in mind.

I started in January with a sponsored, month long dryathlon to raise money for the Woodlands Trust. This seemed to extend right into the back end of February I got so carried away with it. I’ve shaped up my diet, I’m continually increasing my exercise levels and introducing new forms of exercise into my repertoire, I’ve reinstated my fortnightly visits to the massage therapist and am receiving reflexology once a month too, I have cut back on social media time, and I am prioritising down time. For the first time in what feels like at least a couple of years I feel fantastic, I have energy, I feel more productive when I am working, and I feel rested when I’ve had time off.

As I sat by the stream in the picture above the other day enjoying the sunshine filtering down through the trees and listening to the birds singing, I began to wonder what had taken me so long to get round to making these shifts in my lifestyle and I came back to one of my biggest bug bears as a holistic therapist Read more

http://appletreeholistics.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Untitled-1.png00Rachel Surteeshttp://appletreeholistics.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Untitled-1.pngRachel Surtees2016-05-10 15:06:582016-05-10 15:44:52It's time to make self care a priority!

It’s a lovely feeling when our energy starts to wake up again at the beginning of February. You can almost feel the life returning to your bones, and as the days go onwards and the weather starts to perk up a little we become more and more active.

I love those early days of spring where I find I have lots of ideas floating around, but I love this time of year even more. The ideas that I was floating back in February are starting to come together now into something more concrete, ‘things which are actually happening’. It feels exciting, and it’s great to be part of the flow, working in tune with the rhythms of the year. Not to mention that the bluebells are now starting to bloom too (that always gets me excited). Read more

I’m really excited to announce that the latest addition to my clinic will be Neal’s Yard Remedies Organic products.

Clients have been asking me for ages now what products should they use to complement their therapy sessions, or what are the options in natural skincare products, what supplements could they be taking to make sure they are in peak health etc. I quite often end up pointing people in the direction of Neal’s Yard as I’ve used their products for years and can highly recommend their high quality skincare products, health supplements, essential oils and herbal products.

So when the opportunity to become a consultant came my way, I figured why keep pointing people to another place to buy what they need to keep them looking and feeling great when I could just bring the products straight to them.

I’ve just placed my first stock order today so very soon there will be all these fabulous products available in clinic: Read more

I discovered Reiki (pronounced ray-key) over nine years ago now, and it happened quite by accident. I have to admit at the time I was a bit of a sceptic.

It was a bad day, or so I thought. I was in training to become a holistic therapist, and it was a college day. I had been a passenger in a car accident a month or so before which had resulted in a whiplash injury and I had been suffering with pain in my neck and shoulder for weeks. I had woken at 5:30am (college days started early) to discover that I was full of a nasty cold and so not only my neck and shoulder hurt, but pretty much everything else too, and I was snotty (so, so snotty). I was miserable! Read more

http://appletreeholistics.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Untitled-1.png00Rachel Surteeshttp://appletreeholistics.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Untitled-1.pngRachel Surtees2015-10-01 14:43:322015-10-01 14:48:39How reiki helped me heal, and how it can help you too.

Yesterday was the autumn equinox, also known as Mabon. On this is day of the year the dark and the light are in perfect balance with each other, the following day the dark hours start to increase as we head steadily towards the winter months.

I wrote a few months ago about how in shamanic culture it is believed that summer brings us into contact with the fire element, and how we can use this energy to support us in taking action so new projects and lifestyle changes can really get underway (you can read more about that here). Similarly autumn has its own element, and we see ourselves moving now into a time governed by water.

At this time of year we feel our energy naturally starting to drop off a little. When we work with water it brings us the strength and determination to keep going with things until they meet their natural end; so it supports us in seeing those new projects we started in the summer through to their completion. Read more

http://appletreeholistics.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Untitled-1.png00Rachel Surteeshttp://appletreeholistics.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Untitled-1.pngRachel Surtees2015-09-24 15:21:112015-09-24 15:21:11Why autumn is the best time to see things through to completion

Have you ever had an experience that resulted in you feeling as if you had lost a part of yourself?

Have you had a time in your life which left you feeling massively diminished?

Have you ever suffered a deep shock, something which has profoundly rocked your personal reality?

Have you ever found yourself wondering where did that …fun loving, happy, confident, open minded, playful, relaxed etc… part of me go to?

Have you ever had an experience which, although the memory fades, you have never quite gotten over?

Do you find yourself still being affected by events which happened years ago?

Have you ever thought it would be possible to get those parts of yourself which you feel you are missing back? Read more

http://appletreeholistics.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Untitled-1.png00Rachel Surteeshttp://appletreeholistics.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Untitled-1.pngRachel Surtees2015-09-16 15:00:372015-09-16 15:01:15Ever feel like you've lost a part of yourself?

Summers is definitely on its way out, and with the change in weather, and return to work and school after the summer break comes the first round of seasonal colds.

I’d like to share with you a few of my self-help tips for getting through a cold with as little suffering as possible.

The two key things which are going to speed your recovery are getting as much rest as you can, and drinking plenty of water. However you might want to try some of the following to help you get through: